.jpg)
I continued my steps very cautiously and sank down beside the podium. Seeing Valentin kneeling just seven steps away with his hands neatly folded, my heart grew complicated.
‘I feel a bit bad for interrupting him when he's praying so seriously, even fasting for it.’
But usually, this kind of disaster is called karma. In other words, you reap what you sow.
I looked at Valentin, the farmer who had reaped a modest harvest, and carefully moved my lips.
“Valentin.”
He didn't budge. Thinking my voice had been too quiet, I took three or four steps closer and spoke slightly louder.
“Open your eyes, Valentin.”
The silence broke.
The sight of his features moving was like a painting. It was richer than a watercolor, more like an oil painting, and clearer than a landscape, more like a still life. As his slender bridge of the nose was revealed, I saw his firmly set lips. When his eyelids slowly lifted like the opening of Pandora's box, it felt as if an intense turquoise storm were raging against his pale skin.
His blurred focus sharpened the moment he recognized my face. The look in Valentin's eyes at that instant was, so to speak, a gaze that bound one's legs with thorny vines.
Struck by an indescribable tension, I froze right where I was, still crouching. Valentin stared at me and remained silent for a long while. The silence that had vanished returned, stretching on and on, until he finally parted his lips.
“Larisa.”
Despite the low call, it felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck my windpipe, choking me. He spoke a second time.
“Are you the living Larisa, or the dead Larisa?”
This time, I was so flabbergasted that my breath caught.
“I'm sorry, but this isn't heaven.”
“That is a relief.”
He swept his gaze over me and murmured in a low, sunken voice, as if praying.
“The priestly robes suit you as if they were made for your body. If Your Highness were to take refuge in the Holy Order, your hands and feet would wear black from the sheer number of people seeking the Blessing of the Baby Angel.”
“Were you so focused on your prayer that you didn't even know I arrived?”
“No, I dozed off for a moment.”
Aha... right, Valentin is human too, so he can doze off. Of course he can.
I don't know what kind of expression I had while looking at him, but he averted his gaze from me, pretending not to notice, and very slowly stood up and stretched. Only then did the priestly robes Valentin was wearing catch my eye.
Unlike other cardinals, wearing a white cassock and a golden fascia, he was quite different from the Valentin, the noble of Ohalla, that I knew. With his pale skin, silver hair flowing like a river, a clear face like a lady's, and reddish cheeks, he looked as if he were the embodiment of a divine apostle.
It was a funny way to put it, but he exuded a holy and noble atmosphere that was incomparable to Bishop Parben, who felt like the man next door.
Thanks to that, despite having sneaked in so boldly, I was so overwhelmed by his presence that I couldn't even open my lips properly. I dare say it wouldn't have been much different even if Tatyana had been the one standing here. The gap between the being I knew and the being before my eyes was so vast that I was confused as to whether I should use formal language.
However, the strange sense of alienation didn't last long. As Valentin walked fluidly toward the wall and pulled a brown paper bag from inside a scattered bag, my tension snapped.
Rummaging through the bag, Valentin pulled something out and popped it into his mouth nonchalantly. It was a dried raspberry. Ha, seriously. Unbelievable.
“You're eating well. I guess you threw the fasting away.”
“Yes, I am not pious enough to starve myself.”
He sat down with his legs crossed on an old wooden chair located right next to him.
This room felt like another world, as old items and expensive objects existed in a mysterious harmony. Moving his jaw slowly as if chewing rubber, he looked at me and spoke.
“Once I finish eating all these dried raspberries...”
“Are you going to drink milk too?”
“No, I am going to scream.”
What? Seeing me speechless, Valentin continued nonchalantly.
“Then all the priests downstairs will come rushing in. This building is an old wooden structure merely clad in marble, so sound carries very well.”
“Are you threatening a thirteen-year-old kid right now?”
“Your Highness has a petty habit of emphasizing your cute age whenever you are at a disadvantage. That is correct, it is a threat. Therefore, please finish your business as quickly as possible and return. Your time limit is until this paper bag is empty.”
In Valentin's behavior—sitting with his legs crossed and tossing red round berries into his mouth one by one—there wasn't a shred of the characteristic calmness of a priest. He stared at my silent face for a while and then asked teasingly.
“Surely you didn't come here without any business? Simply because you missed me?”
I did not! When there is important business, one must organize their thoughts clearly before starting. Having finished my thoughts calmly without panicking, I crossed my arms defiantly and threw out the introduction.
“I've been thinking about why you left me that prophecy.”
The movement of his jaw chewing the raspberry slowed significantly.
“I haven't known you for even two months, but I pride myself on knowing you quite well.”
Instead of answering, he stretched out his left arm and pulled a chair that was at an awkward distance toward himself. After brushing the chair a few times as if dusting it, Valentin tapped the protruding cushion, urging me to sit.
I complied with his request. I caught a glimpse of the bag under the chair, which was slightly open, and there were more than a few items scattered inside. A crumpled handkerchief, a pendant, a wallet, leather gloves, and even cigarettes.
“Actually, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe the relationship between us as close friends. To be best friends, three conditions must be met, and the two of us satisfy all three.”
“I am sincerely curious as to what those conditions are.”
“First, regular contact. We are exchanging letters, aren't we? Next, having a secret known only to the two of us. Vasily is involved, but three or two is the same. Finally, being well-acquainted with each other's childhood.”
He wore a ridiculing smile.
“You seem to know my childhood quite well.”
“Yeah, I studied. The first head of the Dmitrievs is also my ancestor, who received the title of Duke 180 years ago for rendering distinguished service as Pavel Novarov. Your biological mother, the former Duchess, is a princess of the Oblonsky Kingdom, and your grandmother is a princess of the Cherensko Kingdom. You have deep ties to those two kingdoms. And originally, you had a younger brother...”
“You may stop there. I am sufficiently convinced. Where on earth did you hear such things?”
“Tanya. And... Ivan?”
Valentin looked at me with a face that said it was obvious. Even without him intervening, that was all I knew. It was because I had come all the way to the Holy Order to dig for information beyond that.
“Well, you agree that we're best friends, right?”
.jpg)